Gordon Strachan remains the bookmakers' favourite to replace Craig Levein as
Scotland manager but Graeme Souness, a failed candidate in 2008, on Monday
nominated another Tartan Army icon, Joe Jordan, to succeed him.

One man who has barely rated a mention as a potential replacement, however, is Billy Stark, the man who will take charge of the team in Luxembourg's Stade Josy Barthel on Wednesday night.

The Scotland Under-21 coach was asked to act as interim manager following Levein's removal last week but Everton midfielder Steven Naismith, one of seven players in the 18-man squad travelling to the grand duchy to have played under Stark, believes that he is a credible contender for the post.

“I worked with Billy with the Under-21s and he was a really good manager for me,” he said. “Apart from anything else, this is a chance for him to show his managerial skills.

“It’s a difficult situation to be in, with the squad meeting up for such a short period of time, but if we go out and put in a good performance and win comfortably then it boosts his stature as a manager.

“Although he maybe hasn’t been talked about a lot, I’m sure the people that make the decision will need to think about him.

“There has been a progression in terms of what’s happening at Under-21 level. We have pushed further and further forward under his leadership. That is definitely going to go in his favour.

“When I was in the Under-21s, the biggest thing for me was that he treated you like a professional footballer and a man. He didn’t talk down to you as if you were a young boy or anything like that.

“Billy was a great player in his day and has managed in the SPL. He has a lot of experience. From working with him, I would say his man-management and the way he treated you were the things I took away from it.

“I think he's helped Under-21 players [take the next step]. When guys come into the squad now they are probably a bit more confident than I was.

“That’s down to how Billy treats them. He gets players into the right mould of how you should act, how you should be on the training pitch and how you should prepare for matches.”

Naismith was an armchair spectator for the defeats in Wales and Belgium which signalled the end of Scotland's hopes of reaching the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil just four matches into the campaign. However, it never occurred to him that that failure would cost Levein his job.

“To be honest, I didn’t,” he said. “I knew there was going to be a lot of criticism – not just for the manager but for the squad in general.

“I know it’s been said that the squad we have should have been doing better and there is no getting away from that fact – we should have. In the first two home games we played well but didn’t take our chances. That has ultimately cost us.

“It’s very disappointing but these things happen in football. I think Craig would have known that he's going to be criticised and have questions to answer. I'm sure he has been through it before and will move on.

“But I haven't got a bad word to say about him. He was great for me and gave me my chance at international level. I respected him a lot as a manager.”